Might anyone be at the British Library over the next week, who could call up and take pictures of a 10-page article for me?

Occasionally people ask me if i have a favourite Lombard or Salic law, I don't - but think I've just found a favourite *Roman* Law:
Codex Theodosianus §8.5.57, fining Remistheus, Duke of Armenia, 10 lb (~4kg) gold if he uses the post without warrant or issues warrants to do so...

#TeamRemistheus
🐎📯

yep, they're still at it - just got another spammy, phishing email from them for this year :(

(but on the upside, at least I will be at the #IMC2026 )

Hi #Medievalsky #Antiquity people!

I've already had a few lovely abstracts come in - more than a month ahead of the 31 May deadline! - and am eagerly hoping for more people to 'dig in'💀

and please do circulate it widely to interested and likely colleagues, onhere and in the wider world :)

Just ran a work-in-progress play test of the "Hawking & Lawplay" one shot scenario I've been working on for my early #medievalsky set #TTRPG (the #LangobardRPG) with work friends

Seems like everyone enjoyed themselves, and got invested in the legal content and intrigue, as well as the story

🎲🦅📖

I Spent 10 Years Calculating How Bored the Knights Were on the Quest for the Holy Grail One day, while reading The Quest for the Holy Grail, I came across a statement by Sir Gawain that made me chuckle: I have slain more than ten knights already, the worst of whom was more than adequa…

This is the longest joke I've ever worked on. ⚔️🏰
scottmanning.com/content/10-y...

#medievalsky
🗃️

Call for Papers

Hello #MedievalSky and #Antiquity from the #PresentDead!

Here's my #cfp for a hybrid conference on "interacting with the Dead in Antiquity & the Middle Ages", to be held in Graz, Austria on 2-4 Sept., 2026

presentdead.uni-graz.at/en/news/blog...

Please do circulate it to interested parties :)

The British Museum image shows a painted scene of a lion and a gazelle playing a board game, probably senet. They are seated on low stools, facing each other, across a low table on which a board game with black playing pieces is laid out. It is probably the popular ancient Egyptian board game senet. The gazelle sits on the left of the table facing the lion on the right. The animals are seated on their haunches, sitting upright, legs hanging down from the chair seat, and their forelegs raised, being used as arms. Each animal holds a game piece with their hoof and paw respectively. The gazelle is painted brown within a black outline. It has black hooves, two long, black, s-shaped curved horns, and a black dot for its eye. It has long pointed ears at the back of its head. The lion is painted a sandy brown within a black outline. It has a darker-brown shaggy mane and a black nose and eye. It’s mouth is ajar as if speaking. Detail from an ancient Egyptian illustrated papyrus from Deir el-Medina

A 3,200 year-old painted scene of a lion and a gazelle playing a board game, probably senet.

From an ancient Egyptian illustrated papyrus showing animals taking on human roles in comic situations where they act against their natural instincts.

📷 British Museum

#Archaeology

hi #Medievalsky

Does anybody happen to have a pdf/scan they could send me, of:

Peter Sawyer, "The Bloodfeud in Fact and Fiction" Acta Jutlandica 63.2 (1987), 27-38 ?

Many thanks in advance! 📖😀

Put a nice proposal together, and even dipping my toes back into early English law!

So, hopefully I'll be looking at the Ordeal in the tenth century, at the intersections of I Æthelræd (~997) #MedievalSky and the Cthulhu: Dark Ages (2020) #TTRPG

📖🎲✨

I’m now also:
- Liles Prof of English
- 26-27 @folger.edu Public Humanities Fellow
- under contract with @mitpress.bsky.social for my next book on the history & making of Actual Play (performance of TTRPGs)
- work ahead on why/how we play, tied to ideas about community, story, fame, & friendship

And yes, I'm quickly writing my own #TTRPG themed abstract now!!

📖🎲✨

Screenshot of a document, reading: CfP: ANALOGUE GAMES AND THE ANCIENT & PRE-MODERN PAST - INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED STUDY, DURHAM UNIVERSITY, FRIDAY 1 MAY 2026 Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words to gaming.history.ias@gmail.com by 31 MARCH 2026. Organisers: Dr. Helen Roche (Durham University, UK) and Dr. Hamish Cameron (Victoria University of Wellington, NZ) Recently, analogue games have been gaining increasing attention within the context of Game Studies, Ludonarratology, Historical Game Studies and Classical Game Studies. This interdisciplinary workshop will focus on modern analogue games which engage with ancient and pre-modern pasts, with an eye to producing an edited volume which will complement existing work already in progress. The organisers are currently seeking abstracts, and welcome suggestions for 20-minute papers which engage with: a broad range of historical periods (including games with historical elements which are not purely historical, e.g. historically-inspired fantasy and science fiction; mythical games); archaeogaming; any analogue game genres - including, but not limited to, board games and card games, Tabletop Roleplaying Games (TTRPGs), live action games, tabletop wargames, miniature wargaming, and megagames; analogue games which range beyond the popular (e.g. analyses of indie games as well as well-known classics); analogue games as vectors for historical pedagogy, engagement and outreach; serious games; creative ludic research methods; intersectional and postcolonial perspectives are especially welcome. Our primary goal is for the workshop to take place in person (though please note that we cannot guarantee funding to cover speakers' expenses, and any funding we can find will be used to facilitate attendance by ECRs and precarious speakers). However, given sufficient interest, we would consider organising a separate online workshop at a later date to accommodate those who are unable to travel to Durham in person.

I dropped the ball on this, but had promised - a couple of weeks ago, ahhh! - to share this #CFP for a workshop in #HistoricalGamesStudies in Durham on the 01 May 2026.

The deadline for submissions is tomorrow (31 March 2026)!

Call for Papers

Hello #MedievalSky and #Antiquity from the #PresentDead!

Here's my #cfp for a hybrid conference on "interacting with the Dead in Antiquity & the Middle Ages", to be held in Graz, Austria on 2-4 Sept., 2026

presentdead.uni-graz.at/en/news/blog...

Please do circulate it to interested parties :)

What I’m listening to: non-AP TTRPG Podcasts | Dr. Em Friedman Get more from Dr. Em Friedman on Patreon

I saw a question on Discord about non-Actual Play TTRPG podcasts, and my response got a little out of hand so I’ve posted it. (As always, free to read)

I’m hoping that folks will see this list & recommend podcasts I might not already know.

Peace through Pain: Mutually Hurting Stalemates in the Carolingian World It was not entirely surprising when, in the year 800, Charlemagne declared war on Benevento. Relations between the southern Italian polity and the Franks had been complicated ever since Charlemagne…

Suddenly remembered that I once wrote a blog post about a time a superpower attacked a smaller enemy and it turned into a miserable stalemate in which everyone suffered until peace was made. Can’t think why it’s now on my mind. #medievalsky

salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2023/05/04/p...

Check mates: analysis of medieval chess sets reveals vision of equality and mutual respect Far from being a metaphor for racial tension, chess reveals world where people could engage as equals

"Libro de axedrez, an illustrated 13th-century treatise on chess produced for King Alfonso X of Castile, features dozens of depictions of players from Africa, the Middle East and Asia that defy preconceptions of medieval social attitudes."

#MedievalSky

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Listening to a talk about codicology / material aspects of reading by Irene van Renswoude, in which she extols the virtues of looking at a book upside-down. The moment you cannot read the letters, you start noticing everything else.

Will take a stab at that 😉

BTW -- TIL that @heartofthedeernicorn.com has a TTRPG guide for libraries and schools, including:

- What is a story game?
- FAQs
- Tips for hosting game events
- "Top picks" of TTRPGs for library programming
(naturally skewed but with useful descriptions of prep, player count, quick pitch)

Screen from computer in War Games; Matthew Broderick’s face is reflected over the text: “shall we play a game?”

Another exciting #CFP! “Playing Camelots,” is a special issue interested in pieces that examine #Arthuriana in various game genres thru the lens of play, illuminating how Camelot continues to evolve—not only as text & myth, but as system, strategy, & shared experience! #arthuriansky #medievalsky

Screen grab of a call for papers at Leeds IMC. The text reads: TIME FOR CHANGE: TEMPORALITIES & CASTLES Call for Papers - Leeds IMC 6-9 July 2026 - 'Temporalities' What is a castle in time? Is there a time of castles, for castles? Can castles be atemporal? What does a castle studies engaging with questions of temporality look like? Whose castle temporalities matter? Can we call time on the castle studies of yesterday, yesteryear? Can the lens of temporality challenge castle knowledges and interpretations? This panel welcomes proposals which examine temporalities and temporalities in castle studies as a field of inquiry at the intersection of (among others) medieval studies, architecture, archaeology, history, heritage and medievalism. Papers of between 15-20 minutes, by researchers at all career stages, discussing any aspects of castle studies research including but not limited to the following, are welcome: • Temporality in castle studies; • Remembering and memorializing in castle Obscured history, identities and heritages in spaces, communities, themes: past and castles past and present present; • Medieval temporalities and the heritage • Temporally situated antiquity, novelty and innovation in castles; • Planning, timing, scheduling, recording in • castle communities, lives, societies; • Ruined, lost and fictional castles in time Parallel and contradictory times; • Time and temporality in the reception of castles; Please send proposals (a title and abstract of no more than 200 words; short biography of 50 words or less), or any questions, to Dr William Wyeth (william.wyeth@english-heritage.org.uk) by 15 September 2025. This session is organised by Emma Fearon (Nottingham Trent University) and William Wyeth (English Heritage)

Please share: due to withdrawal I have a space on my castles panel for #LeedsIMC.

If you’ve an idea needs airing on time and temporalities in castles, give me a shout/submit via link! imc-leeds.confex.com/imc/2026/pre... @imc-leeds.bsky.social @castlestudies.bsky.social

Original CfP below ⬇️

I shall make it my mission to find some!! 😉

Maybe:
🐎 riding someone else's horse without their permission,
🌱 or jumping over the fence into someone else's garden

Happy Birthday!!!
🎂🎉🥳

Kate. Kate! @katexe.bsky.social !!

I've broken my horrific themes of poisoning and arson and grave robbing steak! I'm doing corrections at the moment on a piece on *checks notes* ... ummmm... secret killing/murder...

Swing & a miss, huh 🤣

Want to know the date of the Tremulous Hand of Worcester, or why medieval documentary ‘forgery’ is, more properly, imaginative fiction? My book is now available in paperback! 🥳

www.arc-humanities.org/978180270086...

Hey #BookSky look at this AMAZING video narrated by @itsdanicarr.bsky.social !

York History Department - Academic Jobs Uncover the past to define the future. We are seeking research-led historians to join our world-class, collaborative community. Discover career-defining opportunities within one of the UK’s most disti...

3x Lecturers and 1x Associate Lecturer in History

features.york.ac.uk/history-jobs...

Did you know you don’t have to wait until every Monday to dive into material texts? 📚✨

Catch up on past talks (2020–present) anytime on our YouTube channel - revisit old favorites or catch up on what you missed!

Scholarship on demand, whenever curiosity strikes.

▶️ www.youtube.com/@pennsworksh...

page 211 of Rivers 1987 translation of the Ripuarian laws, from §86.2 (on poisoning/poison-magic where the victim surives but is injured) to the start of §88.1, where a person plunders a corpse before burial. The final law cuts off partway through, and §88.2 is ommited entirely. In this final law, the perpetrator has dug up the already-buried corpse and plundered it, and now gaisn the legal status of "wargus", that is "outlaw", (which is possibly a metaphorical 'wolf').

oh, actually, and the bottom of p. 211, as I think there might be more cut off from the page there in that previous photo 😉